Pop & rock albums
by Leonie Cooper
Doves
The Universal Want
The indie veterans’ first album in 11 years was amusingly trailed by leaked sheet music – meaning if fans wanted to hear the first single they had to play it themselves.
11 September
Alicia Keys
Alicia
One of the biggest pandemic postponees, Alicia – branded “The best therapy I’ve ever had” – was originally set for release in March and then May. Buckle up for some smooth catharsis.
18 September
Deftones
Ohms
Following 2016’s bluntly named Gore, Ohms is the avant-metallers’ ninth album and includes sampled seagulls in the year’s most unlikely tribute to Don Henley’s Boys of Summer.
25 September
Sufjan Stevens
The Ascension
“My objective for this album was simple … Exterminate all bullshit,” says singer-songwriter Stevens. Expect a lush dismantling of the creaky state of the world.
25 September
Idles
Ultra Mono
Not content merely with convincing all men under 35 to wear little plumbers’ beanies, Idles have prepped their third album of community-minded outrage in four years.
25 September
Róisín Murphy
Róisín Machine
Leading with moody piano house belter Something More, disco diva Murphy dances through the darkness with style, grace and extremely well-applied eyeshadow.
25 September
Blackpink
The Album
After endless EPs, the record-breaking K-pop queens finally release their debut LP. Look out for major league guests – Selena Gomez is one – and monolithic trap-styled pop.
2 October
Dizzee Rascal
E3 AF
Giving us a fresh take on Live Laugh Love with his boisterous Love Life Live Large single, east London’s grime king returns to reclaim his crown.
9 October
Beabadoobee
Fake it Flowers
Twenty-year-old Beabadoobee’s 1990s obsession looms large across her debut, essentially a one-woman cosplay re-enactment of Lush appearing on Top of the Pops in 1995.
16 October
Kylie Minogue
Disco
Kylie’s clubby 15th (15th!) album sees her entering her fifth decade of pop domination. At this point, who cares if it’s any good? It’s Kylie!
6 November
Jazz
by John Fordham
Yazz Ahmed: Polyhymnia
The British-Bahraini trumpeter-composer Ahmed’s ensemble play her epic Polyhymnia – mixing jazz, electronica and dance grooves, dedicated to female courage and achievement.
Sage Gateshead, 12 November
London jazz festival
One of Europe’s most exciting jazz festivals, the 10-day LJF returns in mixed live and digital form for 2020 – details to be announced on 24 Sep.
Various venues and online, 13 to 22 November
Classical
by Andrew Clements
Autumn at the Wigmore Hall
It’s business as usual, just about, for the new season at the Wigmore Hall, with 100 concerts announced up to Christmas, featuring many of the hall’s regular artists. Audience numbers will be very strictly limited, but the concerts will be livestreamed on the Wigmore’s website, and available for free for 30 days afterwards.
Wigmore Hall, W1, 13 September to 21 December
12 Years
Originally planned to tour in March, pianist Sarah Nicolls’s latest show takes to the virtual road, with each performance followed by Zoom discussions. Inspired by the 2018 special report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it interweaves newsreel footage and fictional conversations with music.
Various venues, 8 to 25 October
Huddersfield contemporary music festival
Instead of the usual 10-day event, HCMF is planning a weekend of online performances, which will feature a number of the works originally scheduled for this year’s festival, including commissions from James Dillon and Rebecca Saunders, and works written for each of the instrumentalists of the Riot Ensemble.
Online at hcmf.co.uk, 20 to 22 November
Stage
by Miriam Gillinson
Beat the Devil
Ralph Fiennes stars as David Hare in a bruising monologue about the playwright’s personal experience of Covid-19. Safe to say that the Tory government will not come out of it well.
Bridge Theatre, SE1, to 31 October
Romantics Anonymous
Emma Rice’s Wise Children company is livestreaming a full-scale version of their musical Romantics Anonymous. It’s a love letter to the theatre, full of song, dance and wonder.
Bristol Old Vic, 22 to 26 September
The Last Five Years
Southwark Playhouse has been a lively presence throughout lockdown, hosting workshops and live streams. Now they’re reviving their acclaimed version of Jason Robert Brown’s inventive song cycle.
Southwark Playhouse, SE1, 1 to 31 October
Death of England: Delroy
Timely sequel to Clint Dyer and Roy Williams’s Death of England. Set in London in lockdown, this monologue sees a black man questioning his British identity.
National Theatre, SE1, late October
Sunny Side Up
Stephen Joseph Theatre’s autumn season includes a new play from John Godber, performed by the playwright, his wife and daughter. The show is set in a seaside town and is about class, memory and Britishness.
Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, late October
Comedy
by Brian Logan
The Special Relationship
Double act The Pin’s online sketches, making hay with Zoom culture, were among the comedy highlights of lockdown. Now the duo’s audio mockumentary about their attempts to make it in the States launches on Audible. Big-hitting guest stars include Kate Berlant, Jamie Demetriou and Sally Phillips.
On audible.co.uk now
The Warren outdoor season
Brighton, the city that lost its festival and fringe to Covid-19 this spring, can enjoy an enviable roster of actual live comedy over the next few weeks. Seann Walsh, Luisa Omielan and Sara Pascoe all feature at a space near the pier.
Brighton Beach, to 27 September
Standup Under the Stars
After a run of summer gigs in Brighton, production company Show and Tell bring their outdoor comedy offering to Crystal Palace FC’s Fanzone in south London. Acts include Phil Wang, Bridget Christie and John Robins.
Selhurst Park, SE25, Tuesday 8 to Thursday 10 September
Comedy at the Covid Arms
Kiri Pritchard-McLean’s livestreamed cabaret has brightened up some dark days for comedy since March, and raised more than £100K for food bank charity the Trussell Trust. September’s lineup at the now-monthly club includes big-collared wheeze Harry Hill.
comedyatthecovid.co.uk, 19 September
Greenwich comedy festival
The annual comedy festival returns with an alfresco edition – not such a leap from its usual marquee – and with a programme of superstar-heavy, mixed-bill standup nights. Desiree Burch, Dylan Moran, Aisling Bea and Nish Kumar feature.
National Maritime Museum, SE10, 23 to 27 September
Dance
by Lyndsey Winship
The Royal Ballet
The dancers of the Royal Ballet are reunited on the Royal Opera House stage for the first time since March, showcasing favourite extracts from the company’s rep.
Livestream at roh.org.uk, 9 October
Birmingham Royal Ballet: Lazuli Sky
Real live ballet makes a comeback in a triple bill including the premiere of Lazuli Sky by choreographer Will Tuckett. Only 150 tickets for each Birmingham show.
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 22 to 24; Sadler’s Wells, EC1, 29 to 31 October
Film
by Steve Rose
Bill & Ted Face the Music
The Wyld Stallyns finally regroup for another knockabout time-travelling dudecom, but can middle-aged Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter still make sweet, world-unifying music together?
16 September
Rocks
A vibrant, honest, up-to-the-minute account of teenage life in multi-ethnic London, centred on a black schoolgirl from a troubled home who’s looking for something more from life.
18 September
Wonder Woman 1984
Gal Gadot’s all-conquering Amazon encounters old friends (Chris Pine) and new foes (Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal) in a superhero spectacular that fully embraces its retro setting.
2 October
Candyman
The hook-handed urban legend returns to ravage Chicago in this “spiritual sequel” to the 1992 horror, conjured by Jordan Peele and Nia DaCosta.
16 October
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Aaron Sorkin restages a resonant political moment: the 1968 trial of a group of counterculture peace protestors. The stellar cast includes Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Rylance and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
16 October
Rebecca
Eighty years after Hitchcock, Ben Wheatley reinterprets Daphne du Maurier for Netflix, with Lily James inducted into the haunted household of Armie Hammer and Kristin Scott Thomas.
21 October
Saint Maud
Bong Joon-ho has recommended Rose Glass’s striking psychological horror, featuring a breakout turn from Morfydd Clark as a devout nurse who believes she’s on the side of the angels.
23 October
Black Widow
Scarlett Johansson’s Avenger finally gets her solo Marvel movie, returning to Russia to confront her foes and family (Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Rachel Weisz).
28 October
No Time to Die
Daniel Craig’s final Bond mission, with the old formula invigorated by some fresh faces, including Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch and (on screenplay duties) Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
12 November
Soul
Pixar takes a bold leap into metaphysics with this family animation set in the afterlife – or is it beforelife? Jamie Foxx voices a semi-deceased musician who feels his time is not yet up.
27 November
Art
by Jonathan Jones
Artemisia
The (literally) cutting-edge art of baroque feminist Artemisia Gentileschi brings her rage roaring across the centuries in paintings that turn the world upside down.
National Gallery, WC2, 3 October to 24 January
Bruce Nauman
One of the planet’s most provocative and unsettling artists mirrors our dark time with his disruptive videos and sculpture, and fractured words.
Tate Modern, SE1, 7 October to 21 February
Arctic: Culture and Climate
The Arctic is no wasteland but a place where humans have lived with extremes for millennia, according to this epic survey of art and ecology.
British Museum, WC1, 22 Oct to 21 February
Ray Harryhausen
This Botticelli of cinema brought mythology to life with lovingly handmade animations of monsters, gods and skeletons that truly deserve to be celebrated as art.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 24 October to 5 September 2021
Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch
The Margate expressionist embraces her lifelong love of Munch and his screams in this bold meeting of their heartfelt paintings, prints, sculptures and video (hers).
Royal Academy of Arts, W1, 15 November to 28 February